Conflicts of interest in West Side vote analyzed tonight

Susan McCormack

COSTA MESA -- The assistant city attorney will present his findings

tonight on whether three council members have a conflict of interest in

voting on a moratorium on some West Side development.

At the last council meeting, Commissioner Katie Wilson said she should

not vote on the item because she lives one block from a “critical

intersection” in the West Side Specific Plan. This prompted Chairman Walt

Davenport and Commissioner Chris Fewel to notify the commission that

they, too, had conflicts of interest because they own property on the

West Side.

According to Tom Wood, assistant city attorney, a public official is

prohibited from making a decision if he has a financial interest in it.

If an official’s home is within 300 feet of the property involved in the

decision, then there is a conflict. Wood is expected to discuss further

definitions of conflict of interest tonight.

Also on the meeting’s agenda, the commission is expected to continue

until Nov. 8 an item that would amend an ordinance regulating home sizes.

Tonight, the commission will hear a report by the planning division done

in response to a controversy regarding a third-story addition to a home

on Samoa Place. The report will discuss the difference between “attic”

and “story” and between “corner lot” and “cul-de-sac.”

The commission meets tonight at 6:30 p.m. in Council chambers, 77 Fair

Drive.